John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014), known as Johnny Winter,
was an American blues guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and
producer. Best known for his high-energy blues-rock albums and live
performances in the late 1960s and 1970s, Winter also produced three
Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters.
After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated
blues albums. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of
Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine's list
of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Winter was professionally active until the time of his death near
Zurich, Switzerland on July 16, 2014. He was found dead in his hotel
room two days after his last performance, at the Cahors Blues Festival
in France on July 14, at the age of 70. The cause of Winter's death is
not clear.